Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this universal human need are of interest to several branches of scholarship.
Laundry is hung to dry above an Italian street.
A self-service laundry in Paris
Laundry in the river in Abidjan, 2006
Washhouse in Sanremo, Italy, at about the turn of the 20th century
Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered "dried", the final product must be solid, in the form of a continuous sheet, long pieces, particles or powder. A source of heat and an agent to remove the vapor produced by the process are often involved. In bioproducts like food, grains, and pharmaceuticals like vaccines, the solvent to be removed is almost invariably water. Desiccation may be synonymous with drying or considered an extreme form of drying.
Laundry hung on a clothes line in a drying room (dehumidifier in the background and duct for ventilation in the ceiling)
Drying of fish in Lofoten in the production of stockfish
